Pope: The Church scandalizes because she professes that Jesus is the Son of God made flesh

At morning Mass Pope Francis urges us not to fall into the trap of the "spirit of the world", reducing Christianity to an "mannered", "reasonable", "social" version. Professing the Son of God made flesh leads to persecution and martyrdom. The Mass was attended by the archbishop of Havana and some gentlemen of His Holiness.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) -
"The Church is not a religious, cultural or social organization." It
is "Jesus' family" the Church professes that Jesus is the Son of God made
flesh: that is the scandal, and for that they persecuted Jesus." This
is how Pope Francis summed up the sense of the Gospel of today's Mass, which he
celebrated in the chapel of the St. Martha residence this morning. The Eucharist was also
attended by Card. Jaime
Lucas Ortega y Alamino, Archbishop of Havana and a group of gentlemen of His
Holiness.

The
pontiff, according to the Vatican Radio summary, repeatedly urged not to adapt
to the "spirit of the world" that shows you appreciate the Church for
its social work, or want to "be more reasonable," and instead
accept "the scandal of the Cross", which can also lead to persecution.

"How many times do you hear people say: 'But you
Christians, be a bit more normal, like other people: be reasonable!' This is a
speech by snake charmers, to be sure: 'But, be normal, OK? A little more normal, do not be so strict." But behind this is: 'Please,
do not come with [your] tales, [about] God who became man!' The Incarnation of
the Word: that is the scandal behind it! We can do all the social work we want,
and they will say, 'How nice, the Church, what good social work the Church
does'. But if we say that we do this because those people [we help] are the
flesh of Christ, there is scandal. And that is the truth, that is the
revelation of Jesus: that presence of Jesus incarnate."

According to the Pope: "always there will be the
[temptation] to do good things without the scandal of the Incarnate Word,
without the scandal of the Cross." Instead,
we must "be true to this scandal, to this reality that scandalises." It is,
"better this way: the coherence of the faith." Pope Francis then said, "It would do us all good to think about this:
the Church is not a cultural organisation that [includes] religion and social
work.":

"The Church is the family of Jesus" he continued. "The Church confesses that
Jesus is the Son of God come in the flesh: that is the scandal, that is the
reason why they persecuted Jesus. In the
end, [the answer that] Jesus had not wanted to [give] to these, to the
question, 'With what authority are you doing this?' He gives to the high
priest. 'But, at the end of: Thou art the Son of God? - Yes!' [He was]
sentenced to death for that. This is the core of the persecution. If we become
"reasonable" Christians, "social" Christians, Christians who only di
philanthropy, what will be the consequence? That we will never have martyrs:
that will be the consequence."

"We ask the Lord - he concluded - not to be ashamed
to live with this scandal of the Cross. [We ask
Him for] wisdom: the wisdom to ask not to be trapped by the spirit of the
world, that will always make to us polite suggestions, civil proposals, good
proposals - but behind those there is precisely the negation of the fact that
the Word came in the flesh, of the Incarnation of the Word. That, in the end,
is what scandalises those who persecute Jesus, that is what destroys the work
of the devil. So be it."